San Ysidro Port of Entry Modernization Funding Clears House

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a 2015 appropriations act that includes $216 million for completing the San Ysidro Port of Entry Modernization and Expansion Project.

That legislation now moves to the Senate.

“Business and community leaders are unified in prioritizing this project as it strengthens our competitive viability on a global scale,” said Jerry Sanders, president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. “The San Diego economy will benefit from this project with billions of dollars in revenue and tens of thousands of jobs.”

Early this year, Congress appropriated $226 million to the project.

According to the U.S. General Services Administration, the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry is the world’s busiest land port, serving more than 50,000 vehicles and about 25,000 pedestrian crossings each day.

In a 2007 study, the San Diego Association of Governments estimated that delays due to border wait times cost this region’s cross-border economies $7.2 billion in lost gross output and more than 62,000 jobs. In 2011, the United States and Mexico agreed to modernize and expand the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry.